New SU doctoral program targets professionals

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Jun 13, 2008 by Tampone, Kevin

SYRACUSE - Syracuse University's School of Information Studies is launching a new doctoral degree program aimed at professionals in the information industry.

The three-year program uses a distance-learning model, including two on-campus residencies per year, says Jeffrey Stanton, associate dean at the school. The program launched because people were asking for it, he adds.

The school already has three master's programs aimed at professionals, but some of the students were coming back looking for more. They were finding in some cases, Stanton says, they needed a doctoral degree to move their careers ahead.

They were noticing that the people just above them were all folks who had Ph.D.s," Stanton says. "But they were telling us, `I can't come to Syracuse and spend five years hanging out with you all, as much fun as that might be.' "

It's often impossible for mid-career professionals to leave their jobs for an extended period of time to study for a doctorate, so the iSchool decided to try to compress the program and use distance learning to give those students the chance to earn the degree they needed. The result is the three-year doctoral program that will launch this fall.

The school is planning to start with five students this year and build up to enrolling 10 per year during the next two to three years. The degree is aimed at everyone from chief information officers in industry to library directors, Stanton says. The school attracts students from all over.

Students will already have lots of knowledge about their organizations and will be looking to rise to the top levels in their fields, he adds.

"This program is going to give them the opportunity to become scientist practitioners in their area," he explains. "Think of the value of working with real data when evaluating a program in your corporation or trying to understand industry trends."

A major piece of the new program will be working with data. The final year of the program will be spent on a thesis that will have some value to the students' professional lives, Stanton says.

The school's traditional doctoral program began 40 years ago. Most of those students go on to become professors and researchers, Stanton explains.

The new degree is aimed specifically at those who are working information professionals and intend to remain in that field.

The new doctoral program comes after the school launched another program aimed at professionals last year. That degree, a master's of science in information management, is geared toward mid-level managers whose goal is to make a leap higher up the corporate ladder to positions like chief technology officer or chief information officer.

The school has been working for some time to develop courses to aid working information professionals looking to advance their careers.

"This is one step in a larger strategy to make available learning opportunities to people who are working, in ways that meet their needs," Robert Heckman, a professor at the iSchool, said last year when the new master's program launched. "We are getting more interested in ways to get beyond the traditional 14-week semester course offerings."